


okay

by roserade



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: Alternate Universe - Track & Field, F/F, also slight teacher au but it s not them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-22
Updated: 2016-04-22
Packaged: 2018-06-03 19:22:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6623113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roserade/pseuds/roserade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The slippers on her feet make her feel so useless.</p>
            </blockquote>





	okay

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PerfectSilence (hitomishiga)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hitomishiga/gifts).



Umi knows that this was completely avoidable. Absolutely, surely, one-hundred-percent, avoidable. No one’s more careful than her, and yet, here she is.

The slippers on her feet make her feel so useless.

“Think of it this way, Umi-senpai!” Rin tells her that afternoon as they sit by the stands while waiting for practice to start, “At least your feet will get tanned! Sort of.” She gently prods Umi’s ankle, “How’s it feeling?”

“Better.” Umi runs a hand over the bandage wrap; her toe twitches a little. “It stopped swelling about yesterday.”

“Nya, that’s good to hear!” Rin flashes a bright smile before pulling her in for a quick hug. She grabs her bottle for a last-minute sip of water, the towel slung over her shoulder falling noiselessly to the ground. Umi reaches to help her pick it up, a bright yellow thing with worn-out labels, and carefully places it on top of her school bag.

“You should hurry,” says Umi. “They’re starting soon.” She looks over to the side of the track, seeing the rest of the team standing there, talking amongst themselves and all ready to go. Bits and pieces of their conversation make their way over to her ears—the class test that morning, Toujou-sensei’s reading assignment (“ _Did you know? Kousaka-sensei said she saw them going out—_ ”), faint and indistinguishable over the quiet afternoon lull.

Rin follows her gaze. “I don’t think you’re missing out on much,” she hums, “Coach said we’re just gonna do some basic stuff this week, really.” She hops down a step. “I’m pretty sure you’ll be back to join us in no time!”

“It’s the ‘basic stuff’ that’s important,” Umi frowns. She draws her knees in closer. On the field, the softball team’s just beginning their practice, the rhythmic soft ‘ _thwacks_ ’ of sharp swings and clean catches echoing over to where they are.

“If there’s anyone who can do that it’s you, Umi-senpai!” Rin nods decisively, her confidence in Umi’s abilities practically glowing.  She sets down her bottle, “Anyway, have I told you about how Kousaka-sensei subbed us for Chemistry today? She spent half the period talking about other stuff, like the movie she downloaded last night or Toujou-sensei’s fancy dinner date, before actually teaching us.” She makes a face. “I don’t understand most of it though, nya.”

Umi can’t help but suppress a laugh at that. It comes out more of a low snort instead. “That’s Kousaka-sensei for you.” She rolls back her shoulders, the exasperation nearly tingeing her voice, “She’s not _that_ bad a teacher, just—”

_“Hoshizora!”_

“Ah, they’re starting already—” Rin whirls around, nearly yelps as she jumps down two steps at a time. “I’ll talk to you later! Hope your ankle gets better soon, Umi-senpai!” and she waves, jogging off to join the others as they begin their rounds around the school track.

 

* * *

 

Their coach—an old friend of her father’s—tries to send her home. “You shouldn’t be up and about,” she says, “Not with that ankle.”

“I can still walk,” she insists. “Time trials are today, aren’t they? At least let me help the first years with their technique.”

“…Fine.” She looks unconvinced. “Just, be careful, Umi.”

She nods. The team’s just finished with their drills, meandering back to their belongings for a short break before the bulk of training _actually_ starts. Rin bounds over, plops herself down by her bag and begins to tug off her track shoes.

“—and then Fuu-chan found a hundred yen coin on the ground, right after the high knee.” she says, pushing aside her pair of dirty grey Mizunos to the corner of the large concrete steps they’re sitting on. One of her mismatched socks has a small hole in it. Teal and orange, from different pairs. “Lucky! Wish I’d found it first. You can buy like, maybe three quarters of a packet of soy milk with that much!”

“You can buy lots of things with a hundred yen,” Umi says, and then, out of curiosity, “…Soy milk?” Rin pulls out her spikes from her battered shoe bag, trying her best to squeeze her foot through the tight opening. She gives up on that soon enough, resorting to plucking at the tight orange knots with her chewed fingernails.

“Rin just feels like drinking soy milk all of a sudden, nya.” The knots do not budge. Rin tugs on a frayed end with an extra amount of force and gritted teeth.

“It’s not going to work if you keep on doing that.” Umi takes the shoes from her and deftly loosens them. “Here, Rin.”

“U-Umi-senpai…” Rin mock-sniffles, her eyes wide and with clasped hands. Umi’s nearly taken aback—even now, she’s still not all that immune to _these_ sorts of things, perhaps even less so because it’s _Rin_. Her jaw tightens, and she tries to frown.

“L-look, just quickly wear them,” she says, “and watch out for your steps when you run. You were much too heavy, just now, during drills. I could hear them from all the way up here.”

“Roger!”

“Also your arms… honestly, you’ve been running since middle school. You should know what I’m talking about.”

Rin tilts her head to the side in confusion.

“The swinging. You could afford to pull back more.”

“Ohh…” She nods her head vigorously and gives a thumbs-up. “Will do, Umi-senpai!” There’s the soft clatter of blunt steel scraping the ground she stands up, trying her best to balance on her heels. “And maybe I’ll beat my personal best today!”

Umi lets out a small laugh at the sight. “Well, I hope you do,” she says, “I’m pretty sure you can do it.” There’s a fondness in her voice that she’s much too aware of, and she accepts that with all the sound reasoning and objectivity that she can muster.

Maybe it’s not as bad as she’d thought it would be, stuck like this. Injuries heal. She’ll get better.

**Author's Note:**

> other stuff i thought about!
> 
>   * they're both sprinters, rin's usually faster (her starts r like rly good) but umi has a higher stamina n has the better timings for 400m. 
>   * also hurdles, bc rin just started learning them in high school! she hasnt got the hang of the whole "running n then jumping at the same time" thing full on yet. umi's better at these more technical events.
>   * eli's the coach??? nozomi teaches literature and is the teacher ic for track club actually.
> 



End file.
